|
FULFILLING
OUR PROMISE: OUR COMMON CALL
UUA GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2000
Coordinated by Joyce Dowling, 8/6/2000
Dawn
Star Borchelt’s Experience
When Joyce asked me
to join her this morning for our worship service presentation, she told
me she was hoping that this service would inspire people who’d never
been one to go to the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
I wasn’t just inspired to go to my first GA - I was sent.
When I was 13, my grandparents wanted to keep me connected to the church,
even though there was no youth group at that time for me to join. So they
sent me off to General Assembly in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with our minister
and his family.
I was hooked from the moment I walked into the hall where the opening
ceremony was being held. I was immediately swept up by other youth and
dragged over to the area they had staked out to sit together. That was
it. I knew that I belonged, I knew that these were my people, my peer
group, and I knew that Unitarian Universalism was mine.
I’ve now been to a total of 5 GA’s, including that one 10 years
ago, and each one has given me something different. Each one has taught
me a new reason why I needed to be there and why you might want to be
there someday, too.
That first GA taught me that you might want to go to GA to find out that
Unitarian Universalism is yours. That this is a religion that binds
you together as one, whole human being with a whole community of beings.
At my second GA in Calgary, I got involved in Youth Caucus, helping to
choose an issue that was important to teenagers in the US and Canada and
preparing others to speak to that issue on the floor of the convention.
I got involved in planning youth worship for hundreds of people. I learned
that you might want to go to GA to be, like I was, supported and challenged
in your thirst for justice and your search for the spirit.
Before my third GA, in Fort Worth, Texas, I joined my home church with
the intention of becoming an official delegate, representing my congregation
at the convention. Then the Board of the congregation decided, against
the advice of everyone in the church who had ever been to GA, that I was
too young; that I would be unable to represent the opinions and positions
of this church I had been a part of since birth; that they would be ‘depriving’
me of my childhood if they gave me a real and important responsibility.
I was angry and I felt totally betrayed. I went to GA anyway. And I found
out, as you might need to some day, that Unitarian Universalism could
belong to me even when I felt that my local congregation had failed me.
After college, at my fourth GA in Rochester, New York, I decided to volunteer
for the new Young Adult Caucus as a worship coordinator. I was overwhelmed.
My co-coordinator and I came up with some great worship services, but
we had no time for anything else. Still, that GA was a time for me to
share what I knew and to find out what I didn’t have - unlimited
energy! Someday you might want to go to GA to share your experiences,
skills, or dreams, too.
This year, for my fifth GA, I went with a clear focus on Religious Education
and came home feeling nourished in the work I have chosen as a religious
educator. You may want to go to GA to be nourished in the work you have
chosen, as well - on a committee, around the building, in the community,
or even as an RE teacher.
Maybe someday you will decide to go to GA. I’m sure Joyce will be
mentioning all the lovely cities the convention will be held in over the
next few years [see this page on the
UUA site]. But even if you don’t - maybe you’ll send somebody
else, some 13 year old or 16 year old. Because GA is a terrific way to
keep ourselves - and our youth - connected to our Unitarian Universalist
faith tradition.
[Joyce Dowling’s multi-media presentation has not been submitted
to this site, but much of what she spoke about and showed us is on the
UUA’s site here.]
|
About Our Diversity Growth Plan Request updates for this site. Lay
Sermons from Davies church
Davies
church & UU History
Sermons
by A. Powell Davies
Rev. John Crestwell - Bio & Sermons
Sunday
Morning Worship Services
Religious
Education
UU
& Other Links
 |
